Wednesday 26 September 2012 09.35 EDT
First published on Wednesday 26 September 2012 09.35 EDT

A high court judge has halted the extradition of the radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza pending an urgent hearing in open court.

The decision follows last-minute representations from Hamza's lawyers of new material to prevent his being sent to the United States to stand trial on terror charges dating back to 1998.

A Judicial Office spokesman confirmed that both Hamza and a second terror suspect facing extradition to the US, Khaled al-Fawwaz, had sought injunctions to prevent their removal from Britain.

"A high court judge has considered the applications on the papers and adjourned the cases to a hearing in open court. The judge has issued interim injunctions preventing their removal prior to those hearings. The judge has directed the hearings be fixed urgently," said a spokesman.

Fawwaz has been detained in Britain since 1998 when he was accused of being involved in the bombing of American embassies in three east African capitals.

The two terror suspects are among a group of five cases that the European court of human rights finally cleared for extradition to the US after an eight-year legal battle. The decision by five European judges on Monday to reject their final appeals meant that all legal avenues under the extradition laws were finally exhausted. The home secretary was expected to put them on a plane within the next two to three weeks.

They all claimed that they faced inhumane and degrading treatment if they were convicted in America and sentenced to serve time in a "super-max" high security prison.

The grounds for their legal challenge was not immediately clear, nor has a date been set yet for its hearing.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The European court of human rights ruled there was no bar to the extradition of these men. We will continue working to ensure they are handed over to the US authorities as soon as possible."

Although the grounds are not known it is possible that Hamza's appeal may relate to claims that his health has deteriorated since his last appearance in court. The BBC quoted legal sources in Fawwaz's case that he had been "delisted as a terrorist by the US authorities" and they were inviting the home secretary to reconsider her decision in the case. The Home Office is reported to regard these legal moves as little more than last-minute delaying tactics.

Two of the other terror suspects, Babar Ahmad and Syed Tahla Ahsan, who are accused of running a pro-jihadi website, are both facing a possible private prosecution in Britain that could take precedence over any US trial. The director of public prosecutions is expected to decide shortly whether that should halt their immediate extradition.